Are Airports Safe? After Fort Lauderdale Shooting, Baggage, Security Areas Called ‘Soft Targets’

After a deadly shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, Friday, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla described crowded areas in airports as “soft targets.” The mass shooting cast a fresh spotlight on the issue of airport safety months after attacks on airports in Brussels and Istanbul in 2016.

At least five people were killed in the Florida attack, which ended with the assailant, Esteban Santiago, reportedly taken into custody. Speaking to CNN shortly after the incident Friday, Nelson said that areas were people bunch together at airports, such as security lines or baggage areas, were vulnerable to attacks. The shooting in Fort Lauderdale was reported to have occurred in the airport’s baggage claim area.

It is not the first time that Nelson has expressed concern about airport safety. Nelson, a ranking member of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, was one of 12 senators to sign a letter in July urging House and Senate members to add a provision enhancing airport and mass transit security to the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Bill.

"As you work to finalize legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), we urge you to include the provision, which passed the Senate in April with a 91 to 5 vote, to safeguard and strengthen U.S. Airports and mass transit security, especially in non-secure 'soft' target areas at airports like check-in and baggage claim areas,” the letter read.

The bill, which later passed Congress, included a number of provisions aimed at closing gaps in airport security and protecting the so-called “soft targets” outside of security perimeters.

It was written just days after the attack at the Istanbul airport left 36 people dead and 147 injured, when three terrorists armed with guns and explosives targeted the international terminal and a parking lot. Only three months earlier, in April, two suicide bombers detonated devices in the departure lounge of Brussels airport, killing 10 people.

Media reports claimed the shooter at the airport in Fort Lauderdale was able to carry his gun in his checked baggage as he flew from Anchorage to Minneapolis and then onto Fort Lauderdale. After exiting the plane, he collected his baggage and retrieved his gun before he began shooting.

The Transport Security Administration allows guns to be declared as checked baggage as long as it complies with local and state laws. While the guns must be unloaded and placed inside a locked hard-sided container, ammunition can also be checked in.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott tweeted Friday he had spoken to President-elect Donald Trump about the security and safety of Florida airports.